The Chinese lunar calendar has been used to track the months of the year for millennia, long before China adopted the common Gregorian calendar that many countries use today.

Known as nong li, the lunar calendar charts the passage of time using the phases of the moon with one month cycle lasting about 30 days. A month begins with the appearance of a waxing crescent moon and a full moon marks the midway point.

Better reflect the seasons

Created during the Xia Dynasty (c. 2070 - c. 1600 BCE), the lunar calendar is divided into 24 solar terms or jieqi to better reflect the seasons, temperatures and seasonal biological phenomena. With each of the solar terms, planting and harvesting can be better planned.

For instance, lichun is the start of spring, yushui means the start of rainfall and jingzhe usually has thunder loud enough to awaken hibernating animals– hence the solar term's name.

The vernal equinox (chunfen) arrives when night and day are approximately the same length. After that, the sun will begin to move northward and it will get increasingly warmer in the northern hemisphere. In fact, there is a saying: “Every minute is as precious as gold around the chunfen”.

Lixia is the first solar term of the summer, xiaoman can be a time of drought and xiazhi is the longest day of the year. Dashu can be translated as ‘the great heat’, which quite accurately reflects what this solar term means.

Autumn begins with liqiu, a day when people in southern China would dry out their harvest on the roof, and is followed by chushu, which usually indicates the end of summer and dropping temperatures. Qiufen is the day of the autumn equinox and is celebrated with the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Lidong marks the arrival of winter, although China's meteorological winter actually begins 20 days later. Daxue means 'heavy snow', xiaohan is the solar term with the lowest temperatures and dahan is the last solar term of the year, also known as the 'great cold'.

Auspicious days

Despite adopting the Gregorian calendar in 1912, public pressure saw China maintain a dual-calendar policy that saw the scheduling of traditional holidays follow the Chinese calendar.

The Chinese lunar calendar also plays a large part in the Tung Shing, which offers auspicious guidance about daily activities, such as when to get married, organise a family reunion and even when to bury a deceased family member.